Local attorney pleads guilty in tax case
By Kathy McCarty
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE — Alan Harding, 57, a Presque Isle lawyer who was charged last year in Augusta District Court with six misdemeanor counts each of failing to file and failing to pay Maine income taxes, pleaded guilty to the crimes June 21, and will be sentenced in Kennebec County Superior Court in September. An exact date has yet to be set for the proceedings.
Harding has been a practicing attorney since 1978, working with his father, Floyd Harding, in Presque Isle until his father retired.
Following an inquiry by an agent of the Maine Revenue Services in Augusta, the case was turned over to the Attorney General’s Office for prosecution. Initially, Harding pleaded not guilty to all charges. Prosecuting the case is Assistant Attorney General Gregg Bernstein, who has stated the misdemeanor charges stemmed from Harding’s failure to file tax returns and pay income taxes for a five-year period from 2004 to 2009.
Walter McKee, an attorney from Portland, is representing Harding. In a Bangor Daily News article June 22, McKee indicated the income taxes in question were personal taxes but refused to discuss why Harding had not paid them when they were due, indicating only that there were “a host of reasons” and that they would be revealed at sentencing.
McKee noted that Harding has filed all his old returns and paid the related outstanding tax bills, along with interest and penalties — a total figure of nearly $100,000 — with payment made in March of this year.
Harding could face 180 days in jail with all but a maximum of 45 days suspended and a year of administrative release, according to McKee, who plans to argue for no jail time.
Harding is also scheduled to appear before the Board of Overseers of the Bar in Bangor. The hearing was originally set for June 29 but a board member’s family emergency resulted in the matter being postponed, with no new date being scheduled as of presstime. According to recent reports, the board, which regulates the conduct of Maine lawyers, is seeking Harding’s immediate indefinite suspension from the practice of law.
Complaints from at least five of Harding’s former clients have been submitted to the Board of Overseers regarding improper representation of Harding’s on their respective cases, with the complaint also coming from the board that Harding failed to pay taxes.
In the petition to suspend Harding’s license, an official expressed concern over Harding’s “repeated failures to properly discharge his professional duties” and that such actions “warrants the board’s intervention and the court’s immediate oversight.”
